147 Iowa 513 | Iowa | 1910
Lead Opinion
An agreed statement of facts filed on the trial before the justice of the peace was the basis of the finding of the district court that defendant in October, 1908, solicited, accepted, and took from various persons orders for the purchase by them and sale and shipment to them of intoxicating liquors from and by a certain brewing company in Kansas City, Mo., said orders being subject to the approval of said company, and that the liquors so ordered were to be shipped directly to the persons named from the place of business of said company. ■ Defendant’s motion for judgment in his favor, which was overruled, recited that the acts charged were not criminal under the law of this state at the time of their commission, and, further, that the statute of the state making such acts criminal is in violation of the Constitution of the United States as an interference with the clause thereof relating to interstate commerce and statutes on that subject passed by Congress. The acts with which defendant' was charged were in violation of the provisions of Code, section 2382, as amended by Acts 28th General Assembly, chapter 74 (Code Supp., section 2382), prohibiting any person from soliciting, taking, or accepting “any order for the purchase, sale, shipment or delivery of any (intoxicating) liquor.” In the case of State v. Hanaphy, 117 Iowa, 15, followed in State v. Bernstein, 129 Iowa, 520, decided, respectively, in 1902 and 1906, this statute was held unconstitutional, as in violation of the interstate commerce clause of the federal Constitution. In 1909 this court, relying upon the decision of the Supreme Court of the United States in the case of Delamater v. South Dakota, 205 U. S. 93 (27 Sup. Ct. 447, 51 L. Ed. 724), decided in 1907, reached the conclusion that its previous holding that the statute was in violation of the federal Constitution was
It will be noticed that the abts charged as against this defendant (and in fact also the filing of the information before the justice of the peace) were after the Supreme Court of this state had held the statute to be unconstitutional, and also after the decision of the Supreme Court of the United States in a somewhat similar case from South Dakota sustaining the validity of such a statute as against the contention that it was in violation of the federal Constitution, but prior to the action of this court in reversing its prior decisions in reliance on the later decision of the Supreme Court of the United States. The contention for defendant is that the decision of this court sustaining the constitutionality of the statute should not be given a retroactive effect, and defendant should not be punished for acts which according to the prior decisions of the Supreme Court of this state were lawful.
It is, of course, well settled that a statute which has been held unconstitutional either in toto or as applied to a particular class of cases is valid and enforceable without re-enactment when the supposed constitutional objection has been removed, or has been found not to exist. That was the holding in McCollum v. McConaughy, supra, and is not now questioned. See, also, Pierce v. Pierce, 46 Ind. 86. And the conviction below was proper, unless some benefit is to be given to defendant of the fact that, when the acts were committed, the latest announced decision of this court was to the effect that the statute was unconstitutional, and therefore not enforceable. It is only by
From the conclusion that in a constitutional sense there is no vested right in' reliance on decisions of the court as precedent, and that one who is brought into court for a violation of law can not sustain himself on the mere plea that in some other case which he thought to be analogous the court rendered a decision which, if applied as he thought it would be applied, would result in exculpating him from wrong, it does not necessarily follow that the court can not take into account as a controlling consideration in reaching the conclusion as to the justice of a case that the party charged with wrongful conduct relied reasonably and in good faith upon decisions of the courts in determining whether a wrong was committed. The Supreme Court of the United States, while recognizing its general obligation to follow the decisions of the courts of the state in which a contract is made in determining its validity, has held that it will not recognize a change of rule in a state made by judicial decision where the effect of such change is to. render invalid contracts which according to the views previously expressed by the state courts. at the' time the contracts were made were valid. Gelpcke v. City of Dubuque, 1 Wall. 175 (17 L. Ed. 520); Thompson v. Lee County, 3 Wall. 331 (18 L. Ed. 177); Douglass v. Pike County, 101 U. S. 677 (25 L. Ed. 968); Center School Tp. v. State, 150 Ind. 168 (49 N. E. 961). In Muhlker v. New York & Harlem R. Co., 197 U. S. 544 (25 Sup. Ct. 522, 49 L. Ed. 872), the judges whose views on this point are expressed in the opinions filed were equally divided on the question whether one acquiring property in reliance on decisions of the courts of the state relating to his rights in an abutting
And -it is the general rule in all the states of the Union, even those in which the criminal law is codified, to recognize infancy and insanity as relieving from the punishment prescribed by statute for criminal offenses as they - were recognized at common law, although such defenses are not allowed under any express statutory provision. The assumption is that even the statutory criminal law is to be administered in accordance with the general principles of right and justice recognized in the common-law system. 1 Bishop, New Criminal Law, section 35. In the determination of the criminality of an act even under the statutory definition, the intent is a material consideration. It is the absence of criminal intent which constitutes the basis of the defenses of infancy, insanity and coverture. Ignorance and mistake are also recognized in the same category, but here enters a question of public policy. One who is bound to obey the law ought not to be allowed to say that he was ignorant of it. He may show as a defense that he was mistaken as to a fact which, if it had been as he supposed it to be, would have rendered his act lawful, but he can not say that if the law had been as he supposed it to be, his act would have been lawful and he should not be punished. This principle of public policy has become crystallized into the maxim, “Ignorance of the law excuses no one,” and as applied to the present case, it might well be said, if we followed this maxim, that defendant is not to be excused because he did not know the law, that is, did not know that the
In this connection it is to be noticed that the decisions of courts as to the constitutionality of a statute stand on somewhat different ground than those relating to the common law or the interpretation of statutes, as .applied to particular cases. The function of determining whether a statute is invalid because in excess of the legislative power is one peculiar to our system of government, and unknown in other jurisdictions in which the common law prevails. It is true that such an adjudication is made •in a particular case. Although the power to be investigated is that of the legislative department itself which can not be a party so as to be bound by any judicial decision, nevertheless the courts discuss such question when it arises, and decide the matter not only for the purpose •of determining the rights of particular parties, but with reference to the effect of the decision upon the law of the state. A statute unconstitutional properly remains on the statute books as a part of the written law, but those who are bound to obey the law may, we think, reasonably
That our conclusion in this case may not be misapprehended and relied upon in support of propositions to which-we have no disposition to yield consent, we desire to emphasize the following controlling conditions. This is a criminal case, and therefore involves no conflicting claims as to contractual or property rights. The defendant may be presumed to have acted with knowledge of the fact that the statute now invoked as rendering illegal an act not otherwise wrongful or immoral had been expressly held by this court in cases prosecuted under public authority to be unconstitutional because in excess of legislative power.
The judgment of the trial court is reversed.
Concurrence Opinion
(concurring). — While concurring in the result reached, the case is so peculiar in its facts and the principles upon which it is decided by the majority opinion, so important, that I deem it my duty to express my views thereon in a separate opinion. I am constrained to do this largely because of the fact that it is an illustration of the truth of Lord Campbell’s exclamation of many years ago, that “hard cases must not make bad law.” Some things are said in the majority opinion . with which I fully agree, but there are other statements therein which I can not approve, and which I think will rise to plague us in the future if they be adopted without dissent. The majority make the decision turn, as I understand it, upon the thought that defendant had no criminal
Again, the opinion seems to proceed upon the theory that there is an implied exception in this statute which •the courts should recognize. I do not believe that this is true.
Moreover, ignorance or mistake of law seems to be thought of some merit in deciding the question before us. I fear that the introduction of this principle into the case at bar is fraught with much danger. I must especially dissent from the statement in the opinion that the real question as to the guilt of the defendant is to be settled by referring to the doctrine of criminal intent. The statement in the opinion that “if a mistake of fact is due to a mistake of law, so that it appears there is no guilty mind, punishment should not be imposed,” I can not agree to this unless the statute in question in some way makes intent, either general or specific, an element of the offense.
/Í do not like that part of'the discussion in the opinion which treats of the effect to be given judicial opinions, ' particularly where they involve constitutional questions, or relate to the construction of statutory enactments. I think the case may be decided and properly bottomed ‘ upon two well-settled principles. (The first one is that a change of judicial decision involving the constitutionality of an act or construing an act of the Legislature should, like an act emanating from the lawmaking power, be given a prospective rather than a retrospective or retroactive operation^ second, the Constitution provides that “excessive fines shall ? not be imposed and cruel and unusual punishment shall» not be inflicted.” See section 17, art. 1. My own convictions regarding the effect of a change in judicial decisions, as applied to contracts, are fully expressed in the case of
In very many of these cases it is squarely held that
II. I am very clearly of the opinion that no other basis is needed for the conclusion, which every one desires to reach in this case, than the constitutional provision against cruel and unusual punishment. These terms had a. well-defined significance in England where there is no written Constitution; and in interpreting our written Constitution we are not only justified, but it is our duty, to look for the meaning of these terms as found in the decision of courts and the works of commentators published before tbe adoption of the Constitution. Sir William Blackstone, in treating of the nature of the laws of England' (volume 1, p. 46), said: “There is still a more unreasonable method than this, which is called making laws 'ex post facto,’ when after an uction, indifferent in itself,' is committed, the Legislature then for the first time declares it to have been a crime, and inflicts a punishment upon the person who has committed it. Here it is impossible that the party could foresee that an action, innocent when it was done, should be afterwards converted to guilt by a subsequent law. He had therefore no cause to abstain from it, and all punishment for not abstaining must of consequence be cruel and unjust.” Such legislation was regarded as invalid in England, where they have no Constitution, on the ground that the punishment was
I think the majority do not give sufficient weight to the decisions of courts interpreting statutes or declaring them unconstitutional; and, in an endeavor to do justice, have announced rules which are" unsound in principle and not sustained by authority. The analogy between the defenses of insanity and infancy and the defense interposed here is not apparent.
I concur in reversal of the judgment for the reasons indicated.
Concurrence Opinion
(concurring) . — If the majority had announced the conclusion that under our peculiar system of government it is an implied term or condition in every statute defining crime that its penalties are not to be enforced for an act done after an authoritative judicial decision declaring the enactment unconstitutional and before a later decision by which the former is overruled and the validity of such law judicially affirmed, I should not burden the record with any expression of my individual views. The authority of a court to say that a statute is not applicable to every case apparently included within its general terms is a delicate if not dangerous one which
I am also' firmly persuaded that the constitutional inhibition of cruel and inhuman punishments is not available to the appellant in this case. To make it applicable, we must assume the guilt of the accused, but hold the punishment prescribed is objectionable because it is cruel, inhuman, or one out of' all reasonable proportion to the nature and quality of - the offense. But, assuming guilt, a punishment is not obnoxious to the constitutional provision merely because it is severe. Bine and imprisonment are substantially the only practicable penalties which the state can impose upon offenders, and, except in extreme cases showing gross abuse of such authority the courts will not, or at least ought not, assume to say that a statute imposing them is void. The penalty which the statute imposes for the offense charged against the appellant is
In fact as I view it, there is but one tenable ground on which we can interfere with the judgment of the trial court in this case, and that is to say that the act with which the defendant is charged, though within the letter of the prohibition of the statute, is not within its purpose, reason, or intent, and is therefore not punishable. On that ground alone I would reverse.
Concurrence Opinion
I concur in the views expressed in the first division of the opinion announced-by Chief Justice Deemer.